During a time of widespread angst over the economy, National Economic Council (NEC) Director Kevin Hassett appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” and aggressively defended President Donald Trump’s record on inflation.
When told that inflation has increased, not decreased, since former President Joe Biden left office, Hassett argued, “The bottom line is inflation is going down at the microeconomic level by a million things that we’ve done, like fix the avian flu so egg prices are down, change beef imports so that beef prices go down, make drug prices more affordable with TrumpRX…. But at the macroeconomic level right now, the driving force right now is the temporary increase in the price of gas.”
Hassett also said, “President Trump is taking every problem on earth and gone 100 percent at fixing it.”
Hassett’s claim that Trump is causing prices to plummet in countless way is drawing a lot of responses on X, some of them downright scathing.
Journalist John Harwood tweeted, “Kevin will say anything.”
In a separate tweet, Harwood sarcastically posted, “yes of course, Trump is fixing every problem on earth.”
Journalist Logan McMillen, known for his work for The New Republic, Jacobin and others, posted, “Okay sure, and remind me how we get all of those other things you just listed to consumers.”
Marketing consultant Jeffery A. Thomas wrote, “In the menagerie of sycophantic idiots that comprise the current Trump Cabinet Kevin Hassett’s obsequiousness stands alone.”
Retired immunology professor Jim Hagan argued, “Does the administration understand that almost no one believes a word that Hassett says?”
X user Jennifer Roberts commented, “Do you think there will ever be a day when Kevin Hassett will wake up and think, ‘Hey, maybe I WON’T go be a smug, obsequious toadie on TV today?'”
Another X user, Chris Kennedy, said of Hassett, “He’s the Baghdad Bob of the economy. ‘Everything is great! Trump solved the Avian Flu by himself! Beef prices are going down!’ Why does CNBC continue to put him, Bessent, or [Howard] Lutnick on when all they do is lie?”